


Mafia Meets Doctor

by SportyMari



Category: own work - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Doctors, M/M, mafia
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-22
Updated: 2021-01-23
Packaged: 2021-03-14 17:07:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28924050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SportyMari/pseuds/SportyMari





	1. Meet the Characters

Enzo Marinelli had gotten to college with a few minutes to spare. Luckily, he already knew the school like the back of his hand so he could take his time getting to class and he’d still be on time. He also knew how to avoid his least favorite person, Alexander Schmidt, and his band of misfits. He had no intention of starting his senior year of college dealing with those lunatics. The only problem is that the 6-foot-6, brown-haired weasel that is Alexander Schmidt is sex on legs if what people say is true, so he could be everywhere with a new chew toy. Enzo internally groaned at that thought. The revving of a motorcycle spooked the Italian out of his thoughts. He looked over and saw said dickhead German parking his motorcycle in the lot in front of him. Just as Alexander was getting off his motorcycle, Enzo got out of his truck and ran into the school. He ran straight to his locker and began getting his shit organized for his first few classes. Almost 30 seconds later, Enzo found himself surrounded by his four friends Giovanni D’Angelo, Jasper Miller, Celestino Evans, and Laurent Andrieux. 

Giovanni D’Angelo, 6-foot-3 of an Italian with brown eyes and fair skin, and Enzo’s first friend. They met when they were still living in Monza. Gio has always been there for Enzo as a protector against his demons. Jasper Miller, the sparky 6-foot sun-kissed, black-haired, gray-eyed Australian who is probably the nerdiest of the group. He joined the original duo when they were in 8th grade. Celestino Evans, the kind-hearted brown-haired, hazel-eyed, olive skin 5-foot-11 Canadian who will turn into a bloodthirsty boy if one of his friends are hurt. He joined in freshman year when he was new to Palm Springs High School and saved Giovanni from being beaten up by one of Alex’s friends. Laurent Andrieux, the 6-foot American born Frenchman with brown eyes and brown eyes. He became an honorary member when he gave Enzo a recommendation for his current job as a “thank you for helping me stand up to Alex Schmidt” in the summer before his senior year of high school. Enzo is the tallest of his friends at 6-foot-4 and has dirty blonde hair and blue/gray eyes. Though they are all the same age, he is the eldest with 3 months between him and Giovanni, 4 months older than Jasper, 5 ½ months older than Celestino, and 6 months older than Laurent.

“So fearless leader, how was your summer,” Giovanni asked Enzo, leaning against the locker next to him. 

“Do anything fun,” Jasper asked before Enzo could answer Giovanni.

“It was okay Gio and no Jas, I did nothing fun,” Enzo answered, looking down at his friends critically and questioningly. 

“Are you sure?” Celestino elongated the last word. He leaned into Enzo’s personal space, causing him to playfully push him away. 

“Quite sure yeah.” 

“That’s not what I’ve heard around the school. One of Schmidt’s goons was talking about a dirty blond waiter who poured a smoothie down Alex’s head,” Giovanni smirked. Enzo turned back to his locker and smiled. 

“Well maybe I did or maybe I didn’t.” 

“Oh my god! You totally did pour the smoothie down his head,” Laurent gasped. Just then, Alex happened to be walking by when he heard that. He looked over and saw Enzo, who quickly turned away. 

“Marinelli, I thought you weren’t going to show up to school today. Aren’t you a little scared that I could pay you back for that day?” Alex sneered. Enzo turned back around and got into the German’s face. 

“Do your worse, Schmidt,” Enzo said through gritted teeth. 

“Gladly” Alex smirked. That was the only warning that Enzo got before Alex punched him in the face. The two fell to the floor after Enzo pulled Alex by the shirt collar as he fell. 

All their friends tried to get them to stop fighting before the teachers came but lo and behold one teacher was already there. 

“What is the meaning of this? Get a hold of yourself” and Enzo and Alex were pulled apart. 

“But sir!”

“No buts! Jesus! Already! Not even the first class and already you two are causing trouble again” the professor tutted as he walked away. Enzo and Alex growled at each other before walking to their first classes.

“One of these days, I’m going to seriously hurt that Italian” Alex sneered to his four friends as they all walked into their English class. 

“Alex, no. You could get in trouble for hurting him” one of his friends, Oliver Turner, tried to reason with the German. Oliver was born and raised in Palm Springs. He’s 6-foot-1 and is the parent voice. The boys try to listen to him in fear he will actually follow through with his threats. 

His other three friends are Nicholas Struff, a 6-foot-4 fellow 20-year old German who has a bad temper and isn’t sorry for it; Caspian Carter, a blond-haired, 6-foot Spanish 20-year-old who is quiet and doesn’t usually take part in the same dangerous activities that the rest of them do; and George Beckett, a 6-foot-2 black-haired British 20-year-old who is found in the middle of a brawl. They are also the same age but Alex is the oldest with a 2 week gap between him and Nick, 3 month gap with George, 4 ½ month gap with Caspian, and a 5 month gap with Oliver. 

“Exactly! This isn't going to get you anywhere other than detention. For fuck’s sake, it’s only the first day of school still,” Caspian sided with Oliver. Alex sighed defeated and sat in his seat. 

“Fine! You two win. Happy?” Alex asked them, looking up from under his eyelashes. 

“Very” Oliver sighed in relief. The boys all rolled their eyes but followed him into the classroom.  
************  
A few hours after school had ended, Enzo and his friends found themselves at the neighborhood park. Enzo had the day off from work so he joined them for their daily park trip. The group was sitting at a bench talking about their teachers and soccer tryout. Celestino promised to be there to judge the thing.

“Dear god! They’ve come to ruin this for us as well,” Jasper groaned. Celestino saw what he was talking about and half dragged Enzo away from the benches. Too bad Alex and Nicholas were two of the fittest athletes. 

“Marinelli! Little dweebs” 

“Schmidt! You asshole, what do you want?” Enzo was still being restrained by Celestino, who, for a non-athletic guy, was really strong. Giovanni was behind the duo. The others all still on their way over. 

“Oh, I don’t want anything. We just came here because this is our hangout area” Alex took one more step closer to the others. 

“It’s not only yours! This is a public park, you asshole!” Celestino snarled. Nicholas scoffed and stood next to his friend. 

“Look Alex, the little runt talks back” Nicholas flicked his head in the direction of the Canadian. Giovanni stepped in front of Celestino. 

“Leave him alone, you rat!” 

“Or what D’devilo?” Nicholas and Giovanni stood face to face to the point, they could feel each other’s breath. 

“Or I will beat you so bad, not even your mother will recognize you.” Giovanni sneered in Nick’s ear. He walked backward so he was now standing next to Celestino, who had released Enzo from his hold. 

“Giovanni, you couldn’t even manage to lay a punch on me” Nicholas snarled. 

“Oh my god! You boys are ridiculous! Alex! Nick! We can go someplace else and when these guys leave, we’ll come back” Oliver said when the other teens finally reached the five. 

“They started it,” Alex exclaimed, pointing at Enzo and Giovanni.

“I didn’t do anything,” Enzo exclaimed, looking at Alex in outrage. 

“Keep your filthy fingers to yourself, Schmidt,” Giovanni growled at the same time. 

“Guys let’s just go before one of you ends up getting hurt. I would rather not explain to your parents why we were all in hospitals.” Caspian pulled Nick back by his forearm. 

“Alright let’s go,” Nick growled one last time at Giovanni before following Caspian back to where they parked their cars. 

“You best be gone when we get back here or there’ll be trouble, Marinelli” Alex sneered and followed his friends. 

“I hate that guy! Oh great and now I’m incapable of having fun here. I’m going to get some ice cream. Anyone want any?’ Enzo asked his friends as they walked back to where they had sat before. Celestino and Laurent raised their hands in agreement. 

After Enzo had walked away and out of earshot of the others, Caspian ran over to the Italian. He just silently walked along with Enzo until they got outside the ice cream shop. 

“I’m sorry” was all Caspian said before he ran away as fast as he came. Enzo stood shocked for a few minutes. He shook his head and went in to order. When he got back to his friends, Enzo had forgotten about Caspian’s strange and out-of-nowhere apology. 

After the teens' ice creams were finished and the friends had run out of things to talk about, Celestino jumped on Laurent’s back and demanded a piggyback back to the latter’s car. Jasper jumped on Enzo’s back for the same reason, which is why it turned into a race to Laurent’s car. 

“This is why I didn’t drive anyone here,” Giovanni cackled as Enzo purposely tripped Laurent. 

“Yeah because Enzo is a cheater” Celestino pushed Enzo’s legs, causing him and Jasper to fall. 

“All is fair in friendship and piggyback wars, darling. Suck it up and deal,” Jasper tackled Celestino and they went rolling down the hill they had just got to the top of. 

“Well good luck with that. I have to go home and do my homework. Some of us want to go to a great college.” Enzo walked to where he parked his car only to find that it had been graffitied. “Well, at least now I know why he apologized earlier.”   
Enzo unlocked his car and sent Oliver a text to tell him that they would all be gone in the next 5 minutes. Then, he got in his car and drove to the house he was staying at; Casa de Miller. There was a wonderful mother figure and her slightly annoying son living there. Enzo parked his car in the driveway and noticed that Jasper’s mom was still not home and if the lack of lights were any indication, Jasper was not home yet either.   
Enzo switched his car off, took out his house key, and walked into the house. He went into the kitchen to start on dinner for the three of them. 

Before Enzo left Italy, his mother would teach him how to cook all types of meals. Their favorite meals to make together were breakfast. Enzo smiled, thinking of his mother back in his childhood home waking him up Saturday mornings to make their traditional weekend feast. 

“Oh no Enzo is smiling. The world is truly ending,” Jasper’s voice shook Enzo out of his memories. Enzo turned around and saw Jasper standing in the walkway between the living room and the kitchen. 

“I will put poison in your food, jackass.” Enzo threw an onion skin at his friend. Jasper retaliated by pouring a cup of cold water with ice down Enzo’s shirt. 

“Boys behave. Food fight after Enzo is done with dinner.” Jasper’s mother scolded them. She walked through the living room and into the kitchen. 

“But Brenda, Jas started it!” 

“I don’t doubt it for a second,” Brenda Miller said, before breaking an egg on her son’s head. Jasper and Enzo gasped and looked at each other. 

They rushed to the cupboards and got out whatever they could carry and hid around the corner of the island. Brenda laughed and threw items from the fridge. 

A few minutes later, they came out victorious in the impromptu food fight. Well, actually Brenda stopped the fight so Enzo could finish making dinner but she didn’t want to deal with the consequences of saying that. 

Brenda had noticed that Enzo was finally getting absolutely used to being able to cook and have his freedom in the house. She still remembers when Jasper brought Enzo over the first time. She liked this Enzo rather than the old Enzo.   
************  
The next day, during a free Senior period, Celestino and Laurent were worrying over Enzo and the idea that Schmidt was going to get revenge. Enzo, however, was having none of it. 

“But he is still not over the smoothie disaster!” Laurent kept saying. 

“I can deal with him. He can’t do anything to me.” Enzo laughed and ate his steak sandwich.

“Enzo, please take this seriously! The guy wants to hurt you! You dented his street cred. How can you not possibly be scared right now?’ Celestino asked. Giovanni stole one of Jasper’s fries when he was paying more attention to their friends. 

“Because underneath all that cockiness is a coward who is more scared of us than a bad hair day.” Enzo noticed that the four teens were staring at something behind him. He heard the swoosh and instinct moved his hand to stop whatever it was that was coming at him. His hand had caught the fist connected to Alex’s arm. Alex growled and used his athletic strength to push Enzo onto the ground. Enzo gasped as his back met the floor. Alex, without hesitation, pulled Enzo up by the shirt collar and punched him square in the cheek. Then, kicked his stomach repeatedly after pushing him back on the ground. Enzo hadn’t even raised a finger against the German yet. Behind the duo, their friends were yelling at them. 

“Come on, Alex! Teach him a lesson,” Nick was yelling.

“Enzo, do something! Anything,” Giovanni screamed. 

“Alex, stop you’re hurting him,” Caspian yelled. 

“Jesus Christ! Alex, finish the fucker!” George exclaimed. The others were frozen in place and couldn’t say anything. They only shook out of it when the soccer team coach came to break it up. 

“You are seriously getting on my nerves now. So help me, I will put both of you on the bench for the next few games,” Coach growled, turning next to Nick, Giovanni, and George. “ Don’t think for one second I wasn’t talking to just these two.” The five teens looked down in shame. 

“Sorry Coach,” Caspian sighed, pulling his three friends away from the scene. Jasper pulled Giovanni away while Laurent was pulling Enzo past the rest of the teens. 

“I should give you all detention but I already know that isn’t going to solve this,” Coach handed them all a slip of paper each. Alex looked down at it and groaned.

“Seriously coach?”

“Yes seriously, Mr. Schmidt. This October you will be doing community service.”

The bell rang for the next class, causing the teens to rush to grab their backpacks and run to class. Unfortunately for all of them, they had a history class together. Coach smirked to himself and walked to the gym where his own class was waiting. 

Don’t get Coach wrong, he likes the 10 teens like they are his own sons but they are a lot of work. The drama and hatred between the two groups are enough that their future partners are going to have a hard time with them. He prays that they have more patience than some of the teachers here in school.   
************  
“They keep staring and it’s very unnerving,” Jasper muttered, trying to focus solely on his worksheet. Celestino wasn’t doing too well either. He kept quickly glancing at the other side of the room. Giovanni groaned and put a couple of his binders between their line of sight and the other 5 teens. 

“Better now,” Giovanni asked, glaring over the binders. Laurent pulled his head down by pulling on the collar of Gio’s shirt. Enzo was the only one not affected by the attention, in fact, he seemed to be enjoying it. 

“How is it that you aren’t at all fazed by this attention,” Celestino asked Enzo. In return, Enzo shrugged nonchalantly and continued to take notes on his History worksheet. His friends all looked at him in shock and bewilderment. 

“It’s only the second day of school. He’s been with one of us at all times. Anybody notice anything happening with him,” Giovanni asked, looking around the desks.

“No, nothing happened. You know guys know that I love history class after English class. Therefore, I’m not letting those cavemen get to me. Not in this class. Now all of you buffoons, work on the classwork,” Enzo pushed Giovanni lightly. The group quietly laughed and went back to work.

Not even a few minutes later, Alex walked past the group to the front of the room. He purposely walked sideways into Enzo’s desk, causing Enzo to grunt as the closest leg hit his leg. Alex fake smiled at him and kept walking. Enzo took a deep breath and counted to 10, trying extremely hard to not disrupt the class. Jasper looked at Enzo in worry and concern while their friends were glaring at the back of Alex’s head with so much anger. 

“Yeah no. Apparently, he can still get me in even one of my favorite subjects,” Enzo groaned, throwing his head between his arms on his desk. 

Alex looked back at Enzo and smirked. Oh, how the tall German loved to get under the Italian’s skin. It was so easy! Marinelli is always so tense and wound up. All Alex has to do is walk up to him and the guy is pissed off. 

“Senior year is going to be so much fun,” Alex thought to himself, as he walked past Enzo’s desk again. The Italian still had his head on his arms. 

“When does this lame class end,” George asked, groaning and doodling another picture on the side of his still empty paper. 

“In another...30 minutes,” Oliver slammed his head on his desk. 

“Aww looks like the Doberman pack can’t handle a simple history class,” Giovanni teased. Nick looked at him with a fire burning bright in his eyes but then the words sunk in. He smiled smugly but left it. Nick didn’t want to have detention on the second day. Especially not on soccer tryout day, where he and the other seniors get to bully the sophomores. 

“I know what you’re planning on doing and I’m not helping,” Caspian argued authoritatively as he pointed at his friend. 

“Come on, it’ll be painless!”

“Yeah until they realize who did it and then we’ll all be dead. I promised my mother I wouldn’t die until mid college.”

“Ugh, you are no fun, Cas.”

“If it keeps me from death, I’ll be more boring than a damn trickster with you.”

“Old man,” George muttered under his breath as he worked.


	2. Soccer practice

During soccer practice is when everything started to go to deeper hell. Jasper accidentally tripped George, who retaliated by kicking his legs. Thankfully, Jasper has legs of steel so it didn’t hurt him too badly. Next, there was the fact that Coach decided he hates the kids enough that he’s making Enzo and Alex co-captains of the main team. As a result, the two of them argued over what exercises the sophomores would be doing. Somewhere during the argument, Coach had gotten between the teens and pulled them apart. Finally, there was the problem of Giovanni and Nick having at each other as a delayed response of history class. 

“We’ve only been on this field for 10 minutes,” Caspian exclaimed.

“Clearly that doesn’t matter to them! They’re still fighting,” Jasper pointed out. 

Nick threw a punch at Giovanni’s jaw. Gio saw it coming and leaned back so, the fist swiped air. Unfortunately, neither of them had noticed that Enzo was standing next to them, arguing with Alex. It went deadly silent before Gio, Jasper, and Laurent rushed to Enzo’s side. Celestino, immediately, was onto Nick like a dog on a squirrel.

“I am fine,” Enzo exclaimed. However, even Caspian looked a little skeptical about how fine he was.

“Marinelli, it looks painful,” Alex whistled. He smirked and went to protect his best friend from the angry Celestino. 

“Shit Enzo, it’s already starting to bruise on the top of the other bruises from today,” Jasper whispered, running his hand gently over the bruises on Enzo’s face. 

Coach ran over to the teens, with the school nurse following him. She put ice on Enzo’s face and wrapped Nick’s hand while eyeing the other teens with a critical eye. After the nurse had left, they realized that the sophomores were there and probably had seen the entire thing unfold. 

“Alright, boys! Let’s see if you have what it takes to be one of us,” Alex yelled, taking the attention off of Enzo. Enzo shot Alex a grateful look and walked off to get the soccer balls from the sports closet. Alex sent Oliver with him to make sure he didn’t get lost coming back. Enzo threw a finger up. Coach warned the sophomores that this is what they would be entering if they try out and make it to the final team. Everyone on the field laughed and tryouts could start.   
************  
It was after tryouts were finished and completed so Alex and Enzo were discussing which players they could add to the roster this year, in a pizza place. Their friends were sitting at different tables but close to the German and the Italian so they could butt in if needed. 

“No way! He couldn’t score to save his life,” Alex crossed a line over one guy’s name. Enzo scoffed and circled the same name on his list. 

“I’m putting him on the maybe list.” 

“Marinelli, come on! We need to pick players that do more than the basics!”

“Schmidt, stop kidding yourself! We’re all graduating this year, we need players that can keep our legacy going!”

“Exactly! They need to keep our legacy going! Half of these guys can’t do that!”

“Hey, Alex, Enzo! What about this kid?” Giovanni handed the co-captains his phone. On it was a video of one of the players, one of the better players. 

“Dude, he’s like David Beckham! Schieße,” Nick commented. Alex nodded and turned to Gio.  
“Who is he?”

“Uhm….Taylor Fireheart.”

“According to his school file, Taylor is an exchange student from Australia. His mother is a paramedic and his father is a firefighter. They moved here to California a few years ago. He’s an A and B student with a few previous Cs,” Oliver read off his phone.

“Did you just hack the school system for fun,” Jasper asked, looking over Oliver’s shoulder. Oliver chuckled but nodded. 

“How do you think these idiots are still on the soccer team? If it weren’t me, Alex and George definitely wouldn’t be on the team.” Oliver whispered.

“If you kids are going to be here, at least order something,” Celestino’s mother came up the tables. Giovanni ordered an extra-large turkey pepperoni with olives and banana pepper pizza for everyone as well as a medium chicken with extra cheese pizza for Enzo. 

“What if we wanted something else,” Alex asked, glancing at Giovanni. 

“Trust me, Schmidt. When you try this, you’ll want it every time you come here,” Giovanni pat Alex’s shoulder and sat back down at the Marinelli crew table. 

“So who else are we drafting onto the second team,” George demanded. Enzo looked down at Alex’s list and the drafting system went back online.   
************  
Nick drove into Alex’s driveway, in front of Alex’s driveway, where Alex had parked. The Schmidt crew decided, after the team meeting in the pizza place, that they would drive to Alex’s house to chill and play video games for the rest of the day.   
“Yo, Alex, is your mom home,” Oliver asked as soon as everyone was in the house. Alex shook his head before closing the garage door and putting his keys away. “Great! Do you know if she bought those chocolate bars we have been obsessing over?”  
“Yeah, they’re in the secret drawer in the extra bedroom. As soon as I saw them, I hid them there. ” Alex pointed at where the bedroom was, even though all the guys already knew it’s located. Oliver saluted and walked into the room. Nick put his backpack down and flopped down onto the couch. He pressed the PS4 button on the controller and threw another one at George.   
“I’m going to start my homework like a good student. Alex, I’m taking over your room,” Caspian yelled over his shoulder as he ran upstairs. Alex shook his head and went to sit on the edge of the couch to watch Nick get beaten by George once again.   
“Never realized how much I missed these after school hangouts with you guys until just now,” Alex stated, putting his smelly socked feet on Nick’s thighs. The other German groaned but didn’t say anything nor did he try to move his feet.   
“God, summer was awful without you guys! My dad kept grilling me about how I need more friends than the bad influences I have now,” Oliver said, around the chocolate bar in his mouth. Alex stole the half that Oliver was still holding and shoved it all in his mouth.  
“I feel bad for your future girlfriend! You absolute animal,” Nick slapped the back of Alex’s head. George barked in laughter but kept his focus on the game in front of them.   
“She is going to have a hard time not getting annoyed with you.” George snarked. The four of them laughed and ended up in tears.  
“You guys are assholes. Complete and utter assholes! God, how do I deal with you dicks?” Alex pushed Nick and George, who both smirked at the older German.   
“Because you love us, Alex. Just admit it,” George teased him.   
“No, I fucking do not. Okay well maybe I love Oli and Cas but, you fucking assholes I do not love.” Alex stood up and waltzed to where Oliver was eating more chocolate in the middle of the room.   
Nick made kiss sounds as Alex slung an arm around Oli and together they went to the kitchen.   
************  
The next day, Nick and his friends arrived at school with 30 minutes left until class started. He saw Enzo parking his Jeep in a parking spot a little farther from them and Jasper getting out of the passenger seat. Then, he saw Enzo go to the back, move a duffel bag out of the way, and get their backpacks out. George came up next to Nick and followed his line of sight to where now Celestino and Giovanni had joined the duo.   
“All you have to do is walk over and talk to him. It’s really not that difficult, Nick,” whispered George.  
“They all hate us. Even if I wanted to make friends with him, the others would definitely circle around us like sharks to fish.”  
“Never know until you try,” Caspian butt in.  
“Allow me to remind you all that Alex hates Enzo and therefore will not appreciate it if one of us tries to make friends with the other group. Now excuse me, I’m taking my leave. Goodbye,” Oliver waved and turned on his heels to face Alex’s retreating figure.   
“Ugh, I hate when he’s right. Alright, come on, boys,” George turned and walked away as well.  
“Here’s to me wishing today will be a much better day than this past couple of days,” Caspian prays.   
“Sorry to burst your bubble but, there is more of a chance of hell freezing over,” commented Nick.  
“We all have dreams, Nicholas!”  
Meanwhile, where the other group was, Jasper and Celestino were having an intense conversation about Halloween.   
“We’re college seniors! We don’t do this ‘trick-or-treating’ garbage anymore,” argued Celestino.  
“Nope! I don’t care. I’m tricking or treating and that’s that,” Jasper waved away Celestino and went to stand with the two Italians.  
“So is that conversation now over? Have you agreed on whether to dress up like dorks or not?” Giovanni looked at the two teens walking to them.   
“I’m dressing up and Tino is a big party pooper!”  
“Am not! I’m just choosing to not steal candy from people’s houses this year,” exclaimed Celestino.  
“Just a reminder, idiots, it’s September 16th. So, you can chill for now. Now let’s go inside, please. It’s not yet autumn but I’m freezing my butt off here,” Enzo commented.   
“You have your work tonight, right?” Jasper asked Enzo, who nodded.   
“After soccer practice. I’ll drop you off at home and then, I’m going to work.”  
“Alright cool.”  
“Who has math as the first class of the day? Oh right me! Who has the worst teacher for that same class? Again, me,” Laurent complained once the other four got to Jasper’s locker.   
“Baby, you’ll be fine,” Jasper hugged Laurent close. Laurent smiled and pushed Jasper away.   
“Fuck you, Miller. You too, Evans,” Laurent stuck his middle finger at both of them.  
“I didn’t say anything,” Celestino argued.  
“You were thinking about it!”  
“Was not! I was thinking about chocolate and what movie I’m watching instead of doing homework.”  
“And this is why you are failing school,” Enzo joked, ruffling Celestino’s hair and walking to Food & Nutrition class with Jasper.   
“How did Enzo and Jasper end up with a great first-period class and we get stuck with the shitty classes,” Giovanni asked, muttering with his head deep in his locker.   
“Gio, come on! I would much rather us not upset Mrs. Carter,” Laurent whined. Celestino and Giovanni laughed at their friend.   
“We still have 25 minutes until class starts. We can chill somewhere,” Giovanni pat Laurent’s back.  
“You know, my first class isn’t too far from Carter’s class. I can come chill in her room with you,” Celestino suggested.  
“Yay! Let’s go, my friends, to Carter’s class,” Laurent dragged his two friends with him to the classroom. They passed Alex, Caspian, and George on their way there. All three of them were standing at Caspian’s locker.  
“God, I need a boyfriend,” Caspian moaned as he closed the locker.  
“One of these losers would pay to be your boyfriend, Cas,” George pointed around the crowded hallway.   
“Unlike you two meatheads, three including Nick, I want my relationships to be natural. I meet him, we talk for a few weeks, I like him, he likes me, and then BAM, we’re dating!”  
“Meatheads? What are we in, 6th grade,” Alex chuckled.   
“You have the mental capacity of a 6th grader, Alex,” Caspian fired back.   
“Why thank you, Caspian,” Alex mock bowed. George laughed at his friend while Caspian just opted to roll his eyes at the German.   
“Fuck you, assholes. Come on, let’s get to our English class.”   
************  
Giovanni was walking into his third period, Math class, when he automatically notices that Nick and George are sitting on either side of where he sits. Jasper, who walks in behind him, notices it as well and snickers. He goes to sit at his seat behind Giovanni’s and next to Oliver’s usual seat.   
“Don’t you two have back seats to sit at? Why are you sitting here?”  
“Oh, D’Angelo, we can sit wherever we want. There are no assigned seats here. Besides, Georgie here needs to sit close to the front to see the board,” Nick replied, not even looking up from his phone. George didn’t say anything but he did blow a bubble with his gum.   
“God, it is still too early to be dealing with you two,” Gio groaned and sat down between them. He felt his phone buzz in his pocket but chose to ignore it. Instead, he took his math journal out and his weekly planner. His pencil fell onto the floor and when he went to pick it up, Gio saw Nick look at him quickly before going back to typing on his phone.   
“Clumsy oaf,” Nick muttered.  
“Lazy ass,” Gio snarled. Unknownst to the duo, behind them, Oliver and Jasper were rolling their eyes at them.   
“Sexual tension,” Oliver mouthed to Jasper. The latter stifled a laugh and nodded in agreement.   
“Alright, class! Let’s start with an exercise that you can expect every other week on Thursday. We are doing this exercise today, on a Wednesday because I want to make sure you all understand it. I need volunteers to come up to the board,” their math teacher looked around the classroom. Giovanni and Nick both put their hands in the air rocket fast. Oliver and George exchanged knowing looks.   
“This is going to be good,” Jasper mumbled to himself, taking notes on how to solve the math problems.   
************  
“Oh god, so Gio rushed through the math problems and still managed to get them right and Nicholas took his time and got them wrong? What the actual fuck?” Celestino looked between Nick’s back and Gio.   
“Yep. It was hilarious when Gio realized what had happened. His face paled and then lit up like a child on Christmas Day. He was basically hopping after class,” Jasper recounted. The others laughed at the now blushing Giovanni.  
“DAMN IT,” was suddenly heard from near the table next to them. They looked over and saw Caspian and Laurent were standing next to each other and facing the door. Enzo looked over at Alex, who raised an eyebrow and nodded over to the standing duo. Enzo shook his head in disagreement.  
“Are they having a civil conversation with no words,” Celestino asked Giovanni, who nodded mutely.   
“The key is clearly to keep them at different tables and make sure they communicate with looks,” Jasper whispered. The trio watched as Enzo and Alex simultaneously stood up and walked to Caspian and Laurent.   
As soon as he saw Alex coming towards them, Caspian pulled Laurent closer to him. Enzo was coming up behind Laurent when he caught sight of a blond mop on the floor. He groaned and pulled Laurent and Caspian away from the angry blond on the floor and furious German towering over him.  
“Blake Hunter, whatever are you doing on the ground?” Alex sneered, looking down at the Sophomore, who really enjoyed causing more trouble for the two groups.   
“Your bastard lap dog tried to be a guard dog. He punched me!”  
“You probably deserved it,” Alex growled. He felt a hand touch his abdomen and snarled at the person. Enzo took Nick’s distraction to step between Blake and Alex. Behind the four, Giovanni was keeping Celestino and George away from them. They all had bad blood with Blake but there was no in all hell that Alex, Celestino, and George were going to get in trouble for something this petty.   
“Hunter, go before Gio and I decide to release the hounds on you. Don’t even think about coming near us again,” Enzo glared at the now standing Blake. Once he was out of sight, everyone released their breaths and Nick worked on getting the audience dispersed before a teacher came.   
“Marinelli, don’t do that again!”  
“And just let you get in trouble for starting a stupid fight over something small and absolutely not worth it? Yeah, okay, I’ll do that next time!” Enzo huffed and stormed away. His friends followed after him, leaving some space between them and the Italian.   
“This tension is so thick, I need a steak knife to cut it,” Oliver whined from his seat on a cafeteria table.   
“Come on, boys. We have a free period and I want to smoke something,” Nick pulled Oliver and George behind him as he walked out.   
“Blake lied. It wasn’t me who punched him. It was Laurent and it was in retaliation to him calling me your fucking lap dog,” Caspian whispered as he walked past Alex. Alex, now open-mouthed in shock, looked at where the other group had walked off. He tried to get words out but apparently, his mouth had stopped working. “Don’t hurt yourself trying to come up with something to say.” Alex groaned and pushed Caspian away playfully, causing the other teen to break into a fit of laughter. They walked side-by-side to their spot outside the school.   
There’s a rule about going outside during the day. Only seniors and juniors are allowed outside the school. They can sit outside for lunch or leave the premises for lunch. However, they are required to keep their student IDs with them in case a security officer wants to check. Normally, no one checked because these officers have zero patience with the teenagers. There is always one of those new officers that follow the rules to the T and to say it’s annoying would be an understatement.   
“Officer Asshole just came by. Be glad that you missed him,” Nick said, pulling a cigarette out of his pocket. George threw him the lighter. Alex and Caspian rolled their eyes simultaneously.   
“Can’t we complain to the principal or someone that he’s terrible and they should fire him?”   
“Unfortunately, Cas, the principal thinks he’s an absolute angel,” George said, making his English accent stronger.   
“He’s your father, for Christ’s sake! Do something about it!” Oliver threw his cigarette to the ground with a face of disgust.   
“He doesn’t listen to me. Never has and never will,” George took a drag. A man came up to the teens and looked around.  
“I’m looking for Lorenzo Marinelli. Where can I find him,” the man asked, with an authoritative voice. They looked at each other in confusion before Alex looked back at the mysterious man.


	3. Strangers and work

“Oh hey, guys! What are you all doing out here,” Laurent came bounding over like a little puppy. Normally, Caspian would smile at how cute he looked but there was still this mystery man standing here and he was scared for Laurent. 

“Clearly smoking, dumbass,” George gruffed. 

“Yeah I can see perfectly--” Laurent stopped talking when he saw the man standing close to Alex, who was trying to motion to Laurent to leave. “You’re not supposed to be here! What are you doing here?”

“Looking for that dipshit, Lorenzo Marinelli,” the man growled, growing very impatient.

“He’s out on a trip. Come back next year,” Giovanni remarked, coming up behind Laurent. Gio squeezed his friend’s shoulder in support. Caspian looked at them in confusion. 

“ _Uhm Enzo is in school. Why are they lying to this man? And who the hell is this man?_ ” Caspian thought to himself and based on the fact that his friends were looking at Giovanni and Laurent in confusion, he wasn’t the only one thinking about it. 

“Liars, he’s here,” the man screamed. 

“D’Angelo doesn’t lie, Mr. Whoever-You-Are,” Nick growled, getting into the stranger’s face. Everyone looked at Nick in shock. The stranger went to argue but Caspian’s mom came outside at that moment. She saw the stranger standing uncomfortably close to Nick and stormed over. 

“Sir, I must demand that you leave the premises immediately. Only students and staff are allowed on the premises at this time.” Mrs. Carter stood with her hands on her hips and a glare pointed straight at him. 

“Tell Lorenzo, I’ll see him around,” was the last thing the stranger said before leaving the way he came. After he was out of sight, Alex turned to a still shocked Giovanni.

“Alright, D’Angelo, who the hell was that?” 

“We are not at liberty to say. Only Enzo can tell you that information,” Laurent answered instead of Giovanni. Nick smirked at the Italian and snapped his fingers, essentially bringing him back to planet Earth. 

“You good, D’Angelo,” Nick asked, chuckling.

“Huh, uh-huh y-yeah I’m g-good. Uhh, I’m just going to go back to Enzo and the others. Bye!” Giovanni ran faster than he had ever run before back to where his friends were. Laurent raised an eyebrow as he followed the movement of Gio. 

“Sir, I think you have broken my friend,” Laurent laughed with surprise. 

“Yeah, I think I did. Just tell him not to let it get to his head,” Nick laughed along with Laurent.

“Ha! That is going to be the first thing I tell him.”

“Hey, Andrieux, tell Enzo he owes for this,” Alex interrupted their conversation. 

“Yeah, yeah, yeah! Whatever you say, Alexander Schmidt,” Laurent waved his hand around before bowing and running away back to his friends.

“You two have gone soft,” George muttered once Laurent was out of earshot. 

“It’s not going soft. It’s simply concerning as to why some stranger wants Enzo. There is something wrong with that,” Alex simply said, going back to smoking. There other 4 shrugged and enjoyed the breeze. Mrs. Carter rolled her eyes at the boys and left them alone. No one caught that Alex had called Enzo by his first name, except for a gossipy Mrs. Carter  
************  
Laurent had finally made it back to his own friends. He saw Giovanni standing protectively close to Enzo. 

“Remy, where did you go,” Jasper asked, hugging his friend like he was gone for years instead of 15 minutes. Laurent chuckled and hugged him back. 

“I went to see what Caspian was up to. Gio, you haven’t told them, right?”

“Ooooooo Remy has a crush on a Spaniard,” Enzo teased. Jasper, Gio, and Celestino laughed at the blushing Laurent. 

“It’s not a crush! It’s just a hopeful wish for friendship. Not all of us hate the guts of every single one of those guys,” Laurent rolled his eyes and walked past Enzo. He looked at Gio from the corner of his eye. 

“Hey, Enzo, we actually have to tell you something,” Giovanni rubbed the back of his neck, nervously. 

“What’s up?”

“Some guy was here and he was just asking the other guys where to find you.”

“Alex and the others wouldn’t tell where you were and Mrs. Carter got him to leave the school premises.”

“He’s here? As in, here in Palm Beach?” 

“Yep, he’s here. Alex looked about 5 seconds from pummeling the guy when I got there,” Giovanni recalled. 

“Then, Nick came to Gio’s rescue,” Laurent teased Gio and nudged him.

“Oh fuck off!”

“Nick Struff defended you? Is hell freezing over?” Celestino joked. Enzo was looking over at the hill. 

“Hell froze over the second that that asshole came here,” Enzo growled. 

“Come on, let’s go inside. The free period is almost over and I don’t want to be late for English. We’re starting on research work and I’m dying to get started on it,” Jasper jumped onto Enzo’s back. 

“Ugh, I have Humanities with the devil himself,” Celestino groaned and jumped off the brick wall he had been sitting on. 

“Nah kid! Alex and Nick are the devils,” Giovanni corrected him. 

“All three of them are devils. Now let’s go,” Enzo pushed his friends forward.

“Alright, alright, don’t get your panties in a twist, Enzo,” Giovanni pushed his friend back.  
************  
“Hey Jasper, I didn’t realize you were so slow. My grandmother can run faster than you,” Oliver teased.

“Oh shut your pie hole, Ollie!” Jasper gasped and started sprinting faster. Oliver chuckled and went faster as well.

They were in Gym class and Coach had everyone doing laps because he was in a foul mood (Jasper had rolled his eyes and muttered that Coach was always in a foul mood). Enzo was running ahead of them. He had originally been sprinting next to Jasper but as soon as he saw Oliver behind the duo, he rushed off to be next to Laurent. Jasper tried to ignore the teasing the older two were aiming at him. 

“Oh hey, Jasper! How’s life,” Laurent teased Jasper when the three were standing in the middle of the gym. 

“You are the worst,” Jasper slapped both of them on the shoulders.

“You and Oliver seem to be close,” Enzo commented, nodding to where Oliver was leaning against the wall and watching the trio.

“Summer was boring without you guys,” was all Jasper said before paying attention to Coach. 

“I was in Spain,” Laurent exclaimed.

“Let’s talk about this later? Like maybe after soccer practice?” Enzo looked pointedly at his friends. 

“Yeah like that will happen. You have to go to work after practice.”

“Oh shit, I forgot about that. I’m not ready for that!”

“Ha, it’s not like my mom is going to go hard on you. She knows it’s senior year and your last year working under her. Plus, isn’t there a new hire? I heard she has a son our age so she’ll probably help you as well,” 

“Is there really? Have you seen her?”

“No, but you’ll definitely be meeting her tonight. She’s part of my mom’s team.”

“Oh cool. Yeah okay.”

“Oi! Nerds, come on. Coach gave us the rest of the 20 minutes off. Let’s play basketball,” Jasper stepped between them and wrapped his arms around their shoulders. 

“Alright fine. But this conversation about summer is not over, boys,” Laurent said, going to grab a basketball. 

He saw Oliver still standing near the wall and invited him to join them in a game or two. The Palm Springs native agreed and so a two-v-two-game began. They didn’t realize that the rest of the class was watching the game until they had finished. The coach had a small smile on his face from where he was sitting at his desk in his office.  
After class and on the way to European History, Jasper had asked Oliver to walk with them to class. The four easily fell into conversation on the way there. By the time they’d made it to class, Oliver had gained three new contacts on his phone and three new friends. 

“Oliver, you are not at all like the others. You’re way more mature,” Laurent commented. Oliver only shrugged and didn’t say anything. They walked in and saw an unusual scene in front of them. Alex and Nick were sitting in the corner on their phones, Caspian was talking to his mother, and George throwing paper balls into the garbage can near the door. Oliver looked at George with a raised eyebrow. 

“Cas’ mum says we are not learning much today so we get the first half of class as free time,” George answered the question in Oliver’s eyes. Nick looked up, gave a grunt, and went back to whatever was on his phone. Enzo took his Anatomy notebook out once he had sat in his normal seat. He started on rewriting the notes and doing the homework, which was actually due a week later. Enzo felt his phone buzz in his back pocket. 

Celestino:  
Did we have homework for Carter?  
I can’t remember.

Enzo:  
Yeah, Tino, we had homework.  
Should I send a picture to help you?

Celestino:  
If you can.  
I’ll buy you dinner tomorrow night. 

Enzo:  
Lol okay.  
You say that every time I help you, douchebag. 

Celestino:  
This time I mean, sweetcheeks.

Enzo:  
Ooo pet names. You are desperate.  
You’re also late to class. 

Celestino:  
I know.  
Bring it up with Gio.

Enzo:  
How much longer until you get here?  
We can’t keep her distracted for long. 

Celestino:  
5 minutes 

Enzo:  
You owe me, Evans.

Enzo put his phone away and kept working on his homework. He noticed that Jasper had stopped whatever he had been doing and was now looking quizzingly at him. Enzo shook his head and pointed to the door. Just then, Giovanni came barrelling in with Celestino following close behind him. 

“Sorry, we’re late. I had to pick something up from the front office and I didn’t notice the time. So sorry, Mrs. Carter,” Giovanni kept apologizing. She just smiled and nodded to his seat. 

“Mr. Evans, what is your excuse for being late,” she asked in a faux sweet voice. Everyone noticed that Celestino immediately stood up taller. He looked at Gio with pleading eyes.

“He was with me,” Gio said quickly. Enzo looked up from his paper when he heard a subtle sad undertone. He noticed how close his two friends were standing next to each other. If he didn’t know better, he’d think they were fine. But after being friends with Giovanni since the beginning of their lives, he knew the signs of Giovanni protecting a friend. Besides, once upon a time back in Italy, Gio had had to protect him from bullies. 

“Alright, go sit down you two,” Mrs. Carter nodded again towards their seats. Gio threw her a grateful smile and went to sit down. Celestino looked down at Enzo with an obviously fake smile as he walked by. Jasper and Laurent threw their friend reassuring smiles. Mrs. Carter started her lesson after everyone had settled down and taken their notebooks out.  
************  
Before soccer practice started, everyone was in the locker room minus Enzo and Alex, who had to set all the equipment up. The coach was supervising the co-captains to make sure they didn’t kill each other with the plastic cones.

“Alex, put that bag down before you accidentally hit Enzo in the back of the head,” Coach yelled out when he saw Alex swinging the bag of soccer balls around. Enzo looked up just in time to be able to dodge the bag as Alex turned to face their coach.

“Jesus Christ, Schmidt, be careful! You’re going to kill me! Put it down,” Enzo exclaimed. Alex rolled his eyes but dropped the bag anyway.

“You’re being overdramatic, Marinelli,” Alex muttered so only he and Enzo could hear what he said. Enzo growled at him before going completely quiet. Alex looked at him, confused, before turning around and seeing the man from earlier today standing on the hill. He barely hears Enzo say something under his breath before he walks to Coach. 

“Alex! You are captaining the team on your own today. Enzo needs to go to work,” Coach yelled out to him. 

“Yes, Coach,” Alex yelled back. He and Enzo ran to the locker room. Enzo went to grab his bags and Alex went to round up the players. 

“Hey, all of you behave! I have to go to work,” Enzo grabbed his bags and fist-bumped his friends. Gio blinked at Enzo, who shook his head. 

“Everything okay, Enz,” Laurent asked, worried about his friend.

“He’s here, Remy. I saw him watching me and Schmidt outside,” Enzo replied, whispering so the other players couldn’t hear him. 

“Alright, have fun at work,” Jasper said at his normal voice level. Then he turned to Giovanni.“Gio, you are giving me a ride home after practice. No arguing,” Jasper looked at him pointedly. They laughed as Gio raised his hands up in surrender.

“Of course, Prince Jasper,” Gio bowed mockingly.  
Enzo shook his head at his friends and walked out of the locker room. He saw the guy and went in the opposite direction to his car. Enzo threw his soccer bag onto the back seat and put his phone in the cupholder. Then, he texted Laurent’s mom about being at work early. She sent a thumbs-up emoji and so, Enzo started driving to work. When he got to work, he went to the locker rooms and changed into his regular clothes but added the intern doctor jacket that Laurent’s mom gave him last year when he started. When he came out, he was greeted by a clipboard and a smirking Mrs. Andrieux. 

“Hi, Doc Boss. How was your day before your favorite friend of your son came into work?” Enzo gave her his most innocent looking smile.

“Intern doctor Marinelli, you are suspiciously early to work. I know it’s your last internship year but not even I would be this early.”

“I couldn’t handle Schmidt and his cockiness any longer,” Enzo lied. 

“Uh-huh. Well, I’ll take it until you eventually tell me the real reason. Now there are new hires I would like you to meet. So follow me, young man,” Dr. Andriuex turned on her heel and beckoned Enzo with her pointer. Enzo chuckled and ran after her. 

They walked to the staff cafeteria and saw 5 people in the middle of the room walking to each other. Enzo looked at Dr. Andrieux in confusion. 

“My new nurses, this is the young future doctor that you’ve all heard of.”

“Enzo Marinelli at your service,” Enzo smirked and bowed. Dr. Andrieux introduced all the nurses to Enzo

“This is Esmeralda. Her son is actually in your school.”

“Oh? What’s his name? Maybe I know him.”

“Nicholas. Nicholas Struff,” Esmeralda replied. The reaction was immediate. Enzo gulped and blanched. 

“Y-y-yeah I, uh, I know him. Great kid,” Enzo managed to say. He was still in shock though. Out of everyone in senior year, hell in the school, Nick’s mom had to be one of the new nurses working under Dr. Andrieux. Enzo suddenly couldn’t breathe and felt arms grab at him. Whoever was holding set him down at a table and started saying something but unfortunately for them, Enzo was only hearing a few words. 

“Enzo…-ur…-me on…-nelli!” Then everything went black. 

When Enzo woke up, he was greeted by the sight of Laurent’s mother glaring halfheartedly down at him. He groaned and tried to get up but was held back by the IV in his arm along with some other wires. 

“You want to explain to me why you just fainted in front of me and the nurses? And don’t you dare lie to me, Lorenzo Marinelli,” she glared at him. Enzo looked down at his hand sheepishly.

“Nicholas is part of Schmidt’s crew,” Enzo mumbled. The doc sighed and sat in the uncomfortable chair next to Enzo’s bed.

“Someday, this stupid turf war is going to have to end. I can’t let it affect your future.”

“I know that Belinda! I want it to end as much as you do but Schmidt just never stops pushing and my instincts tell me to push back. I don’t want to fight him,” Enzo looked at his boss with the saddest eyes Belinda has seen since Laurent introduced Enzo to her years ago. 

“No, I had a feeling you didn’t want to. You’ve always been level-headed until someone becomes a jackass to your friends or you,” Belinda smiled at Enzo. 

“Thanks, Belinda,” Enzo rolled his eyes. 

“Also, I may have called Laurent, who might’ve told your other friends,” Belinda said before running out of the room. 

“Unbelievable,” Enzo exclaimed, glaring at the door where she had just run out from.  
************  
The next day, Enzo parked his truck in its normal spot and immediately saw Nick leaning on his motorcycle, staring at him, a few feet away. Enzo sighed and walked over there, muttering curses under his breath. When Enzo had made it to the other teen and his motorcycle, he stood in front of him and waited for Nick to say something. 

“So, you’re the doctor my mom is working with now?”

“Intern doctor, Struff. Get your facts right before you decide to bully me,” Enzo huffed.

“I wasn’t going to. In fact, I was going to say, ‘that’s a good internship’ and then ask if you want to be a doctor after high school. But, of course, you had to screw that up,” Nick rolled his eyes and walked away. Enzo sighed in defeat before following behind him at a safe distance. When they got inside, Enzo looked at the back of Nick’s head and went to where his friends were all sitting in the gym, huddled together and most likely gossiping about something new. 

“Hello, Dr. Marinelli! How was the first day back at work,” Giovanni asked.

“Struff’s mother is one of the new nurses,” was Enzo’s reply. 

“No way,” Laurent looked at Enzo with wide eyes. 

“Yeah. I met her yesterday. I wonder how such a wonderful woman gives birth to a bully like Nick. I just don’t understand it,” Enzo shook his head.

“Anything else that went down while you were at work,” Jasper asked.

“Yeah, I fainted. In front of a whole cafeteria of hospital personnel. Isn’t that just wonderful,” Enzo said sarcastically. They all laughed at Enzo’s expense and then they transitioned into an easy conversation about random things. 

“Hey, Jasper! I need help with something on the math homework,” Oliver said as he sat down next to Jasper. The other four looked between the two with curiosity written all over their faces. 

“Alright, what do you need help with?” Jasper grabbed Oliver’s math paper and glanced over it.

“The second to last one,” Oliver pointed at the problem.

“Oh yeah, I can help with that,” and Jasper went into a whole explanation. The two of them didn’t even notice that they were being watched. 

“Nerds will be nerds together,” Celestino shrugged. The others agreed and went to mind their business.


End file.
